The UN’s Human-Rights Day Is Nothing to Celebrate

Yesterday was the 70th anniversary of the 1948 signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Genocide Conventions, a date celebrated by the UN as “Human-Rights Day.” As Gerald Steinberg notes, the United Nations—which last week failed to pass a resolution condemning Hamas—has an abysmal record when it comes to protecting human rights, despite its “self-congratulatory rhetoric.”

Ignoring most of the victims [of genuine persecution] around the world, the agenda of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva continues to be controlled by some of the worst violators, including Cuba, Russia, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia (a major offender long before the murder of Jamal Khashoggi), Egypt, and China. The member-states and UN officials they appoint routinely exploit the rhetoric of international law to deflect attention from their own behavior, and obsessively target the Jewish state. Syrian and Iranian diplomats take the floor to make poisonous accusations against Israel, while their governments make genocidal threats that turn the 1948 Universal Declaration into a mockery.

This year, the council voted again to conduct a pseudo-investigation of Israel, this time over the claims of excessive force and war crimes during the Hamas-orchestrated violent “Grand Return March” incidents along the Gaza border with Israel. Like the infamous, and eventually discredited, Goldstone Report [accusing Israel of fictitious war crimes in its 2008-2009 conflict with Hamas], the one-sided results of this investigation were decided before the commission members were named. . . .

[To make things worse], powerful non-governmental organizations (NGOs) claiming to promote human rights, such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, promote [instead] the agendas of the dictatorships they are ostensibly monitoring. At the meetings, these NGOs routinely take the floor to repeat unsupported claims and denounce democracies, reinforcing the attacks against Israel with particular relish.

Read more at Jerusalem Post

More about: Amnesty International, Goldstone Report, Hamas, Human Rights, Human Rights Watch, Israel & Zionism, United Nations

 

Hizballah Is Learning Israel’s Weak Spots

On Tuesday, a Hizballah drone attack injured three people in northern Israel. The next day, another attack, targeting an IDF base, injured eighteen people, six of them seriously, in Arab al-Amshe, also in the north. This second attack involved the simultaneous use of drones carrying explosives and guided antitank missiles. In both cases, the defensive systems that performed so successfully last weekend failed to stop the drones and missiles. Ron Ben-Yishai has a straightforward explanation as to why: the Lebanon-backed terrorist group is getting better at evading Israel defenses. He explains the three basis systems used to pilot these unmanned aircraft, and their practical effects:

These systems allow drones to act similarly to fighter jets, using “dead zones”—areas not visible to radar or other optical detection—to approach targets. They fly low initially, then ascend just before crashing and detonating on the target. The terrain of southern Lebanon is particularly conducive to such attacks.

But this requires skills that the terror group has honed over months of fighting against Israel. The latest attacks involved a large drone capable of carrying over 50 kg (110 lbs.) of explosives. The terrorists have likely analyzed Israel’s alert and interception systems, recognizing that shooting down their drones requires early detection to allow sufficient time for launching interceptors.

The IDF tries to detect any incoming drones on its radar, as it had done prior to the war. Despite Hizballah’s learning curve, the IDF’s technological edge offers an advantage. However, the military must recognize that any measure it takes is quickly observed and analyzed, and even the most effective defenses can be incomplete. The terrain near the Lebanon-Israel border continues to pose a challenge, necessitating technological solutions and significant financial investment.

Read more at Ynet

More about: Hizballah, Iron Dome, Israeli Security